Sealed container

ABSTRACT

A storage container includes a bin portion configured to hold items. The storage container also includes a first lid portion configured to close the top of the bin with a substantially airtight seal. The first lid portion has a substantially planar region and a raised rim extending at least most of the way around the periphery of the substantially planar region. Further, the storage container includes a sub-bin portion disposed within the bin portion and coupled to the bin portion.

BACKGROUND

Conventionally there exist various types of boxes or receptacles having covers or lids which are used to contain a variety of items for storage. Some such items may give off odors and others may have a shortened shelf life when exposed to air in a non-sealed environment. In such cases a sealed container may be desired. If the container is sealed, odors may escape when the lid is opened which may also be undesirable or air may enter the container thereby reducing shelf life as the lid is opened. Further, if some of the odoriferous contents are combined with other contents, the other contents may become undesirably contaminated with the odors of the odoriferous contents.

Accordingly, there is a need for a container which fulfills some or all of the deficiencies of conventional containers discussed above as well as other deficiencies.

SUMMARY

An exemplary embodiment relates to a storage container. The storage container includes a bin portion configured to hold items. The storage container also includes a first lid portion configured to close the top of the bin with a substantially airtight seal. The first lid portion has a substantially planar region and a raised rim extending at least most of the way around the periphery of the substantially planar region. Further, the storage container includes a sub-bin portion disposed within the bin portion and coupled to the bin portion.

Another exemplary embodiment relates to a storage container. The storage container includes a bin portion configured to hold items. The storage container also includes a first lid portion configured to close the top of the bin with a substantially airtight seal. Further, the storage container includes a sub--bin portion disposed within and coupled to the bin portion and coupled to the bin portion. Further still, the storage container includes a second lid portion configured to close the top of the sub-bin with a substantially airtight seal.

In addition to the foregoing, other system aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text forming a part of the disclosure set forth herein. The foregoing is a summary and thus may contain simplifications, generalizations, inclusions, and/or omissions of detail; consequently, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the summary is illustrative only and is NOT intended to be in any way limiting. Other aspects, features, and advantages of the devices and/or processes and/or other subject matter described herein will become apparent in the disclosures set forth herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an illustrative embodiment of a storage container in a closed state.

FIG. 2 is an illustrative embodiment of the storage container of FIG. 1 with the lid removed.

FIG. 3 is an illustrative embodiment of the storage container of FIG. 1 with the bin and sub-bin in an open state.

FIG. 4 is an illustrative embodiment of the storage container of FIG. 1 showing the bin and sub-bin in an open states and showing sealing gaskets on the lids.

FIG. 5 is an illustrative embodiment of the storage container as in FIG. 4 but also including a grinder element.

The use of the same symbols in different drawings typically indicates similar or identical items unless context dictates otherwise.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIG. 1 , a container 100 may be a box or container used for holding any of a plurality of items. In accordance with one illustrative embodiment, container 100 may be a stash box for holding smokable substances such as, but not limited to tobacco, marijuana, etc. Container 100 includes a bin portion 110 configured to hold any variety of items within the interior of bin portion 110. Bin portion 110 may be formed from any of a variety of materials including but not limited to plastics, resins, ceramics, composites, metals, wood, bamboo, etc. Container 100 also includes a lid 120. Lid 120 is configured to close the top of bin 110 with a substantially airtight seal which may be mounted on the underside of lid 120 or alternatively the airtight seal may be mounted on the bin 110 to engage lid 120. For example, airtight seal may be a silicone gasket 122 as seen in FIG. 4 .

In accordance with various illustrative embodiments, referring to FIG. 2 lid 120 has a substantially planar region 130 and a raised rim 140 extending at least most of the way around the periphery of the substantially planar region 130. Substantially planar region 130 may be utilized for a variety of purposes where a flat surface is advantageous. For example, without limitation, substantially planar region 130 may be used for rolling cigarettes or joints but may be used for other activities as well. Rim 140 helps to keep any stray or spilled tobacco, marijuana, or other substances from spilling over the sides of lid 120. Further, an opening 150 in rim 140 allows a user to pour any stray or spilled substances through opening 150 back into an originating container or other destination. In accordance with various illustrative embodiments, bin 110 may include rounded corners 112. Rounded corners like corners 112 make the creation of airtight seals on the underside of lid 120 much simpler to form.

Referring now to FIG. 3 , bin 110 may include a sub-bin 160 which is configured within bin 110. Sub-bin 160 may be fitted with a lid 170 (see FIG. 2 ), which in various illustrative embodiments may be a substantially airtight lid. For example, lid 170 may be fitted with a silicone gasket 172 or other type of seal in order to create an airtight compartment within the larger airtight bin 110. In accordance with various illustrative embodiments sub--bin 160 may have an area for storing multiple items, for example area 163 may be used to store substances for example without limitation tobacco, or marijuana, etc. Such substances may give off strong odors or may be subject to degradation or spoilage the more it is exposed to air. Accordingly, the inner airtight compartment is very advantageous because area 180 can be accessed without opening access to sub-bin 160.

Bin 110 may have any of a variety of inner storage areas, for example and without limitation an inner bin 162 that may be used to store, for example, a grinder 163 (FIG. 5 ) for grinding tobacco, marijuana, etc. Other storage areas may also be incorporated without limitation such as storage area 185 shown, for example, holding a lighter.

In accordance with another illustrative embodiment, an outer bin 115 may be open such that lid 120 overhangs it with a lip portion 122. Lip portion 122 may be used to help pry lid 120 off of bin 110. Other configurations for providing a grip to aid in opening lid 120 may also be used without departing from the scope of the disclosure.

It should be noted that virtually anything that fits in bin 110 may be stored therein without departing from the scope of the disclosure. In various illustrative embodiments sub-bin portion 160 may be integrated into bin 160 as shown. Alternatively, sub-bin portion 160 may configured as a removable airtight unit that can be coupled within bin 160 through use of mechanical fasteners or magnets. Similarly, Bin 160 may be configurable in some embodiments by providing wall dividers that can be configured in various ways without departing from the scope of the disclosure.

In some instances, one or more components may be referred to herein as “configured to,” “configured by,” “configurable to,” “operable/operative to,” “adapted/adaptable,” “able to,” “conformable/conformed to,” etc. Those skilled in the art will recognize that such terms (e.g., “configured to”) generally encompass active-state components and/or inactive-state components and/or standby-state components, unless context requires otherwise.

While particular aspects of the present subject matter described herein have been shown and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that, based upon the teachings herein, changes and modifications may be made without departing from the subject matter described herein and its broader aspects and, therefore, the appended claims are to encompass within their scope all such changes and modifications as are within the true spirit and scope of the subject matter described herein. It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended as “open” terms (e.g., the term “including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to,” the term “having” should be interpreted as “having at least,” the term “includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to,” etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of the introductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim recitation to claims containing only one such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases “one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or “an” (e.g., “a” and/or “an” should typically be interpreted to mean “at least one” or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should typically be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the bare recitation of “two recitations,” without other modifiers, typically means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations). Furthermore, in those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, and C, etc.” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., “ a system having at least one of A, B, and C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). In those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, or C, etc.” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., “ a system having at least one of A, B, or C″ would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that typically a disjunctive word and/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in the description, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms unless context dictates otherwise. For example, the phrase “A or B” will be typically understood to include the possibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B.”

With respect to the appended claims, those skilled in the art will appreciate that recited operations therein may generally be performed in any order. Also, although various operational flows are presented in a sequence(s), it should be understood that the various operations may be performed in other orders than those which are illustrated or may be performed concurrently. Examples of such alternate orderings may include overlapping, interleaved, interrupted, reordered, incremental, preparatory, supplemental, simultaneous, reverse, or other variant orderings, unless context dictates otherwise. Furthermore, terms like “responsive to,” “related to,” or other past-tense adjectives are generally not intended to exclude such variants, unless context dictates otherwise. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A storage container, comprising: a bin portion configured to hold items; a first lid portion configured to close the top of the bin with a substantially airtight seal, the first lid portion having a substantially planar region on the outer top surface of the lid and a raised rim extending most of the way around the periphery of the substantially planar region forming an opening in the raised rim through which substances deposited on the planar region may be poured through or swept through when removing the substances from the planar region; a sub-bin portion disposed within the bin portion and coupled to the bin portion; and an outer bin portion, the outer bin portion coupled to the outside of the bin portion by being formed onto an outside wall of the bin portion and not removable from the bin portion.
 2. The storage container of claim 1, further comprising: a second lid portion configured to close the top of the sub-bin with a substantially airtight seal.
 3. The storage container of claim 2, wherein the seal of both the first lid portion and the second lid portion includes silicone gaskets.
 4. The storage container of claim 2, wherein the sub-bin portion is integrated into the bin portion.
 5. The storage container of claim 1, wherein the sub-bin portion is coupled to the interior of the bin portion by one or more fasteners.
 6. The storage container of claim 2, wherein the sub-bin portion is coupled to the interior of the bin portion by one or more magnets.
 7. The storage container of claim 2, wherein the sub-bin portion is coupled to the interior of the bin portion by one or more fasteners.
 8. The storage container of claim 2, wherein a portion of the first lid extends beyond a periphery of the top of the bin portion.
 9. The storage container of claim 2, wherein the outer bin portion is open at the top.
 10. The storage container of claim 9, wherein a portion of the first lid over hangs the top of the outer bin portion.
 11. The storage container of claim 2, wherein the raised rim intersects the substantially planar region at a rounded corner.
 12. The storage container of claim 2, wherein the bin portion includes internal dividers configured to divide the interior of the bin portion into more than one storage area.
 13. The storage container of claim 2, wherein the bin portion includes internal dividers configured to divide the interior of the bin portion into more than one storage area and the internal dividers are reconfigurable and removable.
 14. A storage container, comprising: a bin portion configured to hold items; a first lid portion configured to close the top of the bin with a substantially airtight seal; a sub-bin portion disposed within integrated the bin portion, the sub-bin portion being built into and not removable from the bin portion; and a second lid portion configured to close the top of the sub-bin with a substantially airtight seal, the second lid portion being separate from the sub-bin portion.
 15. The storage container of claim 14, wherein the seal of both the first lid portion and the second lid portion include silicone gaskets.
 16. The storage container of claim 14, wherein the sub-bin portion is coupled to the interior of the bin portion by one or more fasteners.
 17. The storage container of claim 14, wherein the sub-bin portion is coupled to the interior of the bin portion by one or more magnets or fasteners.
 18. The storage container of claim 14, wherein a portion of the first lid extends beyond a periphery of the top of the bin portion.
 19. The storage container of claim 14, further comprising: an outer bin portion, the outer bin portion coupled to the outside of the bin portion, the outer bin portion being open at the top of the outer bin portion.
 20. The storage container of claim 19, wherein a portion of the first lid over hangs the top of the outer bin portion. 